Monday 20 February 2006

Feedback...?

Found the need to analyse some server stats. today and the hosting that I was using didn't have a package available so I googled and found Visitors which is damn fine. This all because of this post on Kiwi's Forums. Basically I'm after some testing of a site that I'm working on... well actually it's 2 pages on 1 site that I'm working on TBH. The 1st is a traditional web-based application the 2nd uses brand spanking new technologies (Well, they might be old but they're new to me wink).

You might have already guessed it but it's part of my dissertation and I think that I'm there in terms of the software. Now if I could only get over this cold and feel like my brain isn't swimming in snot rather than cerebral spinal fluid I'd be sorted. Then I can go about improving Rodin a little bit more and the world'll be my winkle.

Anyway, back to visitor, it can output a file that Graphviz can turn into SVG... well, you know how much I love SVG so I just had to give it a go. This is primarily for my own reference TBH but the commands I use can be used by anyone:

To output all the data I'm likely to need as html:

% visitors -A [log name] --trails --prefix [domain name]
> [name of file].html

To output a file ready for Graphviz and then run it to create an SVG image:

% visitors [log name] --prefix [domain name] --graphviz
> [name of file].dot
% dot [name of file].dot -Tsvg > [name of file].svg

Sunday 12 February 2006

Boxer on mac

Well I've installed Boxer 7.5a on my mac. "How?", I hear you say. "Why?", I hear others say.

The "Why" is simple enough to answer; why does someone climb a mountain? Why does someone sail around the world single-handedly? Why, ohh why, does the butter always hit the lino instead of the bread landing butter side up? "Why?", is a damn fine question and I just wish I had an answer. I guess that it's partially because I've always loved Boxer. It was the first proper piece of software that I ever bought just for the sheer love of it. I tried the demo and I was hooked (Has anyone else pondered the possibility that shareware software is a little like the small taste of smack given to the kids as they leave school by the shady character with the pierced nose hanging around the gates? No? Must just be me then wink).

I think it's also because I can install Boxer on a mac TBH, I shouldn't be able to but I can and I love it... though it's getting to be a pain to configure the bugger and the screen keeps losing focus and the short-cuts keep setting off things on the mac which I wish they wouldn't! I run it on my XP machine as well, Boxer I mean, both the latest version (11 I think) and the old 7.5a as well. I seem to remember it being the dog's danglies for working with Java (the DOS version that is)... but I upgraded didn't I? Glad I did like, but all the same... I can't help feeling a little nostalgic about the DOS version. Most everything I code ends up either being written on or edited on Boxer at one stage or another and my dissertation is making full use of the colour syntax highlighting in the Appedixes (Can never figure out how to spell that wink) so I can print out the code with PDF Creator.

The "How?", now there is a question worthy of an in-depth howto but I can't be arsed TBH, suffice to say that the judicial use of DOSBox was involved. Still a wee buit flacky there as there isn't support for the %PATH% variable and such like but not all that bad at all really.

Also started a new site just for my dissertation which will allow me to develop both at home, at college and at work (If time allows while I'm on breaks and such). Actually I'm nearly there I think and I'll need to brush up on my Mellel skills in order to write the bugger up properly.

That's enough for now I think. Until next time, take care.

Before I go I'd best put this in though:

Boxer Software, developers of the award-winning Boxer Text Editors